Pages

Wednesday, January 30, 2013

Christine Young Presents - Smitten At First Sight

Please welcome Marie Astor author of Smitten At First Sight. Marie will be awarding to five randomly drawn commenters at the end of the tour, one of the following five custom-designed jewelry prizes:

Prize 1: Blue quartz three strand necklace with sterling silver clasp

Prize 2: Jade and prehnite necklace

Prize 3: Green aventurine sterling silver earrings

Prize 4: Smoky quartz sterling silver earrings

Prize 5: Rose quartz sterling silver earrings

Smitten At First Sight

by Marie Astor

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

BLURB:

Maggie
Robin has been dating the irresistibly good-looking, successful Jeffrey Preston
for two years. But when Jeffrey proposes marriage a week after Maggie’s college
graduation, she is no longer sure if she wants to marry a workaholic TV
producer.

Maggie’s
doubts culminate when during a ski trip to British Columbia, she meets Taylor
Denton, a handsome, free-spirited big mountain skier who is the complete
opposite of Jeffrey. It does not take Maggie long to realize that she has
fallen in love with Taylor and she decides to break off her engagement with
Jeffrey. But just when she thinks she has found the love of her life, an
ill-fated misunderstanding tears Maggie and Taylor apart.

A week
later, Maggie is told that Taylor has died in a tragic ski accident; yet, her
heart refuses to believe in Taylor’s death. When Maggie returns to Taylor’s
native town, she learns that Taylor is indeed alive, but has been seriously
injured. Resolved to bring her lover back to life Maggie stands by Taylor’s
side, convincing him to embrace life again.

EXCLUSIVE EXCERPT:

“Well,
well – when the cat is away the mice come out to play.” Bethany took a sip of
Maggie’s hot chocolate.

As if on
cue, Maggie’s cell phone rang – it was Jeffrey’s ringtone. Maggie motioned for
Bethany to be quiet.

“Hi,
Jeffrey. How is your day going?” Even though she had not done anything wrong,
Maggie could not help feeling guilty.

“Oh, everything
is fine – just a few things we need to hammer out, but I should be back in four
days tops.”

Maggie
knew not to press him about the details – Jeffrey was always “hammering things
out” and he preferred not to go into specifics. “I thought you said two days
before.”

“Well,
things got a bit more complicated than I thought – I promise to tell you all
about it when I get back. I’ve got to go.” Jeffrey’s voice sounded hurried. “I
love you, babe.”

Before
she could reply, the line went dead.

“Was
that Jeffrey?” asked Bethany. Without waiting for an answer, she continued, “I
can’t say I blame you – you deserve to have some fun while Jeffrey is off doing
whatever it is he’s doing.” Bethany smirked. “But you could have just told me
that you were going to hook up with Taylor – it would have saved me the trip up
here. But then I should have known – the way Taylor looked at you. Just be
careful so that Jeffrey doesn’t suspect anything.”

“Bethany,
what are you talking about? I ran into Taylor by accident and I don’t have any
plans to cheat on Jeffrey.”

“In my
mind cheating is too strong a word – it sounds very judgmental.” Bethany licked
the hot chocolate foam off her lips. “Besides, Jeffrey has his fun when he
wants to, why shouldn’t you?”

“Are you
telling me that Jeffrey cheated on me?” Maggie’s head was swimming. “You knew
and you never told me?”

Bethany
clasped her hand over her mouth. “That’s not what I meant, it came out all
wrong.”

“Don’t
lie to me, Bethany. I want to know the truth. If you are my friend, you’ll tell
me the truth about him.”

“I am
telling you the truth.” Bethany flung her arms. “All I meant was that Jeffrey
has been way too busy with work lately - you told me so yourself, and that he
has not been paying much attention to you. That’s all - I swear!”

The
panicky notes in Bethany’s voice gave her away. Maggie’s heart sank at the
realization that she had been a fool all this time. “Say what you want Bethany,
it doesn’t matter anyway since I’m not going to marry him.”

“Maggie,
have you lost your mind?” Bethany’s eyes widened. “Jeffrey is a real catch -
tons of girls would kill to swap places with you. Don’t you think that maybe
you could just look the other way? Things aren’t always black and white.”

“I can’t
believe you’re saying this.”

“Oh,
come on, you knew that Jeffrey was a playboy when you met him – I thought the
two of you had an understanding. What did you think – that he reformed
overnight?”

“He told me that that part of his
life was over and done with and I believed him.”

“Well things don’t work like that,
Maggie. I’m sorry to be the one to burst your bubble – I should have kept my
mouth shut, but I beg you to think things over before you say anything to
Jeffrey. Think about it, Maggie – you could have a charmed life with him – the
kind of life few men can provide. So what if you have to turn a blind eye now
and then? You can have your own fun on the side. And for Christ’s sake, please
don’t tell Jeffrey about this conversation – if he finds out, he’ll guess that
Charlie told me and their friendship will be shot. But what am I worrying about
- you’d never do anything like that to me, right? And you’re not going to break
up with Jeffrey – the two of you love each other. Both of you are in my wedding
party.”

“Would
you just listen to yourself? What’s happened to you? We used to be friends; we
used to tell each other everything. I can’t believe you covered up for Jeffrey
all this time, and now that I’m telling you that I want to leave him, all you
care about is that I might upset your wedding plans?”

“That’s
not true.” Bethany pursed her lips. “I never lied to you. I care about you –
you are my best friend. You are the one turning your back on everything.
Charlie and Jeffrey are really close. How are we supposed to go on being
friends if you break up with Jeffrey?”

“We can
still be friends. That is if you still want to be friends,” Maggie retorted
hotly, although at the moment, she was not sure of that herself.

GIFTS:

AUTHOR Bio and Links:

Marie Astor is the author of contemporary romance novels Lucky Charm, Smitten at First Sight, This Tangled Thing Called Love, romantic suspense novel, To Catch a Bad Guy, and a short story collection, A Dress in a Window.

If you would like to find out more about Marie’s books, please visit Marie at her website: www.marieastor.com.

Smitten at First Sight: http://www.amazon.com/Smitten-First-Sight-Contemporary-ebook/dp/B005TOWI7K/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1357427954&sr=8-4&keywords=marie+astor

A Dress in a Window – a collection of short stories about love, coincidences, and fate.
http://www.amazon.com/A-Dress-Window-ebook/dp/B004E112TO/ref=pd_sim_kstore_3?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2

Over the Mountain and Back – young adult fantasy adventure novel about a boy who takes his snowboard for a ride and finds himself in a magical, hidden world he never knew existed.
http://www.amazon.com/Over-Mountain-Back-Adventure-ebook/dp/B008WF1Y78/ref=la_B004EBDX9Q_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1350684616&sr=1-6